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How a ceasefire in Gaza could help prevent a deadly outbreak of polio

Special How a ceasefire in Gaza could help prevent a deadly outbreak of polio
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Children under the age of 5, are most at risk from Polio amid the conflict, bottom, which has devastated Gaza’s health system. (AFP/File)
Special How a ceasefire in Gaza could help prevent a deadly outbreak of polio
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Children under the age of 5, are most at risk from Polio amid the conflict, bottom, which has devastated Gaza’s health system. (AFP/File)
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Updated 12 August 2024

How a ceasefire in Gaza could help prevent a deadly outbreak of polio

How a ceasefire in Gaza could help prevent a deadly outbreak of polio
  • Overcrowding, destruction of sanitation, and a deteriorating health system have contributed to the reemergence of polio
  • The WHO has announced plans to send 1.2 million polio vaccines to Gaza after the virus was detected in wastewater

LONDON: More than 1 million children in the Gaza Strip are at risk of contracting type 2 poliovirus, a highly infectious disease that can lead to paralysis and even death, as displacement and the destruction of sanitation infrastructure leaves the population vulnerable to disease.

The World Health Organization has announced plans to send 1.2 million polio vaccines to Gaza after the virus was detected in wastewater samples taken last month from displacement camps in the northern governorates of Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah.

Although no clinical cases of polio have been diagnosed so far, Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director, warned that the virus could “spread further, including across borders” unless agencies acted quickly to vaccinate the population.




In this photo taken on September 9, 2020, a UNRWA employee provides poliomyeletis vaccine for children at a clinic in Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Health officials have detected poliovirus in Gaza again amid a raging war that has destroyed most of the health centers in the area. (AFP/File)

However, any mass polio immunization campaign in Gaza, targeting 600,000 children under the age of 8, would face a host of challenges, chief among them the absence of a ceasefire which would allow medics to safely access displaced communities.

“We need a ceasefire, even a temporary ceasefire, to successfully undertake these campaigns,” Balkhy said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Children under the age of 5, and especially infants, are most at risk from polio, as many missed out on the regular vaccination campaigns that had taken place in Gaza before the conflict began on Oct. 7.

The virus, which spreads through contact with the feces, saliva or nasal mucus of an infected individual, attacks nerves in the spinal cord and the brain stem, leading to partial or total paralysis within hours.

It can also immobilize chest muscles, causing trouble breathing, even leading to death.




PAHO/WHO infographic

Polio was eradicated in Europe in 2003 thanks to an effective vaccination campaign. There have been no confirmed cases of paralysis due to polio caught in the UK since 1984.

Wild poliovirus cases have fallen by more than 99 percent since 1988, from an estimated 350,000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries to six reported cases in 2021.

Of the three strains of wild poliovirus, type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and type 3 was eradicated in 2020. As of 2022, endemic type 1 remained in just two countries — Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In Gaza, overcrowding, a lack of clean water and hygiene materials, a deteriorating health system, and the destruction of sanitation plants have all contributed to the reemergence of type 2, according to Hamid Jafari, the WHO’s director of polio eradication, speaking at Wednesday’s press briefing.




WHO says overcrowding, a lack of clean water and hygiene materials, a deteriorating health system, and the destruction of sanitation plants have all contributed to the reemergence of polio in Gaza. (AFP)

The UN estimates at least 70 percent of Gaza’s water and sanitation plants, including wastewater treatment facilities and sewage pumping stations, have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the conflict.

In late July, Gaza’s health authority declared the enclave a “polio epidemic zone,” blaming the resurgence of the virus on Israel’s bombing campaign and the ensuing damage this had caused to the healthcare system.

The Israeli military began its bombardment of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Although the Israeli military insists it does not target civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and utilities have suffered major damage.

The more than 490 attacks on medical facilities and personnel, documented by the UN during the first six months of the conflict alone, have left Gaza’s healthcare system in tatters. Just 16 of Gaza’s 36 health facilities remain partially functioning.

INNUMBERS

1.2 million Polio vaccines the WHO plans to send to Gaza to prevent outbreak.

600,000 Children under the age of 8 to be targeted in vaccination drive.

70% Proportion of Gaza’s sanitation facilities damaged or destroyed.

1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza displaced multiple times since the conflict began.

Three of these facilities are in the north, seven in Gaza City, three in Deir Al-Balah, three in Khan Younis, and none in the southern city of Rafah, according to the US-based nongovernmental organization Physicians for Human Rights.

Javid Abdelmoneim, a medical team leader for Medecins Sans Frontieres, who was working at the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza last month, told the organization “every day in July has been one shock after another.”

Recounting one particularly traumatic incident, he said: “I walked in behind a curtain, and there was a little girl alone, dying by herself. And that’s the outcome of a collapsed health system. A little 8-year-old girl, dying alone on a trolley in the emergency room.

“In a functioning health system, she would have been saved.”




Medical equipment are laid to waste at a hospital in Gaza that had been destroyed by Israeli bombardment. (AFP)

Despite calls from the WHO and other aid bodies for the warring parties in Gaza to allow “absolute freedom of movement” so that medics can roll out a vaccination campaign, the possibility of a ceasefire appears no closer.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for several parts of northern Gaza, including Beit Hanoun, Manshiyya and Sheikh Zayed.

Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s spokesperson, posted the evacuation orders on the social media platform X. He instructed the residents of Beit Hanoun to “relocate immediately” to Deir Al-Balah and Zawayda.

“Beit Hanoun area is still considered a dangerous combat zone,” he added.




The constant evacuation of Palestinian families in the Gaza Strip has hampered the rollout of a vaccination campaign. (AP)

Despite assurances that these areas would be treated as safe zones in which civilians could shelter, both Deir Al-Balah and Zawayda have come under regular Israeli attack in recent months.

The UN reported that while nowhere in Gaza is safe, 86 percent of the besieged Palestinian enclave is under Israeli evacuation orders. About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.1 million population have been displaced multiple times since Oct. 7.

“Nowhere is safe. Everywhere is a potential killing zone,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the opening of the UNRWA Pledging Conference on July 12.

The continuous movement of families in Gaza has made it difficult for aid agencies, which are already short of funds and struggling to reach affected populations, to locate and identify unvaccinated children.




In this file photo, a polio patient is fitted for an artificial limb at a rehabilitation center for prosthetics and treating polio in Gaza City. The war in Gaza has hampered the operation of the rehab center. (Getty Images)

The WHO’s polio specialist Jafari warned that the virus could have been circulating in Gaza since September, as the enclave offered “ideal conditions” for its transmission.

Before Oct. 7, polio vaccine coverage in the Occupied Palestinian Territories was estimated at 89 percent, according to the WHO.

Even if the planned 1.2 million vaccines are successfully brought into Gaza, it will be a “huge logistical challenge” to ensure their successful deployment, WHO official Andrea King told the BBC.

The vaccines must be stored within a limited temperature range from the moment they are manufactured until they are administered. Bringing these chilled vaccines into Gaza and keeping them at the required temperature would be a difficult undertaking at the best of times.




With a war going on, bringing chilled vaccines into Gaza and keeping them at the required temperature would be a difficult undertaking at the best of times, say WHO officials. (Getty Images)

The WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that a ceasefire or at least a few days of calm was essential to protect Gaza’s children.

As of July 7, the WHO has recorded a surge in infectious diseases, including 1 million cases of acute respiratory infections, 577,000 of acute watery diarrhea, 107,000 of acute jaundice syndrome, and 12,000 of bloody diarrhea.

It says this is primarily due to a lack of clean drinking water and the destruction of a critical water facility in Rafah, southern Gaza.

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Eight dead in Sudan paramilitary attack on shelter: doctor

Eight dead in Sudan paramilitary attack on shelter: doctor
Updated 10 sec ago

Eight dead in Sudan paramilitary attack on shelter: doctor

Eight dead in Sudan paramilitary attack on shelter: doctor
  • Since losing control of the capital Khartoum to the army in March, the RSF has stepped up attacks on El-Fasher and its surrounding displacement camps

PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed eight civilians in an attack on a bunker sheltering dozens in the besieged western city of El-Fasher, a doctor said Thursday.
Nearly all of Darfur, the vast western region of Sudan, remains under RSF control, with communications and media access cut off since the RSF’s war with the army began in April 2023.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands, triggered the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, and devastated the northeast African country.
“The RSF bombed a shelter where citizens had taken refuge using a drone, late on Tuesday night,” the doctor told AFP from El-Fasher Teaching Hospital, one of the city’s last functioning health facilities.
They spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety, as health workers have been repeatedly targeted, using a satellite Internet connection to circumvent the communications blackout.
North Darfur state’s capital, El-Fasher, is the only major city in Sudan’s vast Darfur region still outside RSF control, despite a siege that began in May last year.
Since losing control of the capital Khartoum to the army in March, the RSF has stepped up attacks on El-Fasher and its surrounding displacement camps — where famine has already been declared — in an attempt to consolidate its hold on Darfur.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of the plight of the city’s trapped civilians, who shelter from shelling in makeshift bunkers dug in courtyards and in front of houses.
The bunker bombed on Tuesday had been “sheltering dozens of people,” an eyewitness told AFP.
The city’s resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating frontline aid across the country, said El-Fasher was rocked by RSF artillery throughout Wednesday.
El-Fasher’s estimated one million people survive with barely any access to food, water or health care, with critical infrastructure decimated by a lack of maintenance and fuel shortages.
The United Nations said this week that nearly 40 percent of children under five in El-Fasher were suffering from acute malnutrition, including 11 percent with severe acute malnutrition.
Aid sources say an official famine declaration is impossible given the lack of access to data, but mass starvation has all but gripped the city.
Since the war began, the UN estimates 780,000 people have been displaced from El-Fasher and its surrounding displacement camps, including half a million in April and May following a series of brutal RSF attacks.
Of the 10 million people currently internally displaced in Sudan — the world’s largest displacement crisis — nearly 20 percent are in North Darfur.
 


Rights defenders denounce US sanctions on UN expert

Rights defenders denounce US sanctions on UN expert
Updated 10 min 37 sec ago

Rights defenders denounce US sanctions on UN expert

Rights defenders denounce US sanctions on UN expert
  • Francesca Albanese accused companies of supporting settlements, Israeli war actions

GENEVA: Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top UN expert on Palestinian rights, after the US imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel.

Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese serves as special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of dozens of experts appointed by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to report on specific global issues.
She has long criticized Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, and this month published a report accusing over 60 companies, including some US firms, of supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and military actions in Gaza.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for work that had prompted what he described as illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged Washington to reverse course.
“Even in the face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures,” he said.
Juerg Lauber, the Swiss permanent representative to the UN who now holds the rotating presidency of the Human Rights Council, said he regretted the sanctions, and called on states to “refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal” against the body’s experts.
Mariana Katzarova, who serves as the special rapporteur for human rights in Russia, said her concern was that other countries would follow the US lead.
“This is totally unacceptable and opens the gates for any other government to do the same,” she said. “It is an attack on UN system as a whole. Member states must stand up and denounce this.”
Russia has rejected Katzarova’s mandate and refused to let her enter the country, but it has so far stopped short of publicly adding her to a sanctions list.
Washington has already imposed sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for suspected war crimes in Gaza. Another court, the International Court of Justice, is hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide.
Israel denies that its forces have carried out war crimes or genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza, which was precipitated by an attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023.
“The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.
The group’s former head, Kenneth Roth, called the US sanctions an attempt “to deter prosecution of Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza.”
The US, once one of the most active members of the Human Rights Council, has disengaged from it under President Donald Trump, alleging an anti-Israel bias.


Sara Netanyahu: the ever-present wife of Israel’s prime minister

Sara Netanyahu: the ever-present wife of Israel’s prime minister
Updated 12 min 46 sec ago

Sara Netanyahu: the ever-present wife of Israel’s prime minister

Sara Netanyahu: the ever-present wife of Israel’s prime minister
  • Sara Netanyahu has long made headlines, notably for her alleged involvement in the political decisions of her husband
  • She has been questioned in connection with her husband’s ongoing graft trial and was the subject of corruption, fraud and breach of trust investigations

JERUSALEM: Whether dining opposite US President Donald Trump or accompanying her husband on an official Pentagon visit, Sara Netanyahu’s front-row role in Washington this week has sparked fresh questions over her place in Israeli politics.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s third wife and the mother of two of his children, Sara Netanyahu has long made headlines, notably for her alleged involvement in the political decisions of her husband.
“My wife and I...” is a phrase often used by the Israeli premier in his official statements, helping to cement Sara’s position at the forefront of public life.
This week, as the prime minister visited Washington for a series of high-level meetings in which he discussed a potential Gaza ceasefire deal with the US president, his wife was noticeably present.
On Tuesday, she was photographed sitting opposite Trump at an official dinner following a meeting between the two leaders.
Two days later, she appeared next to her husband, as well as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, as they arrived for meetings at the Pentagon.
But speculation had swirled even before the Netanyahus’ departure for Washington.
On the eve of the trip, the prime minister’s office announced the resignation of his spokesman Omer Dostri.
A few hours later, following media reports claiming that his wife had been involved in the decision, another statement was issued denying she had any role.
Sara Netanyahu has been the subject of several investigations, including for corruption, fraud and breach of trust, and has also been questioned in connection with her husband’s ongoing graft trial.
Married to Benjamin Netanyahu since 1991, the 66-year-old is the target of frequent media attacks which are regularly denounced by her husband.
She has been caricatured in satirical programs for her fashion choices or her profession as a child psychologist, which she has often appeared to boast about.
But above all, she has been targeted for her alleged interference in state affairs.
‘Real prime minister’
In a video released in December 2024, Netanyahu denied that his wife was involved in his cabinet appointments or that she was privy to state secrets.
It followed an investigation into Sara Netanyahu aired by Israel’s Channnel 12 which the prime minister slammed as a “witch hunt.”
In 2021, a former senior official said he had seen a contract signed by the Netanyahus stipulating that Sara had a say in the appointment of Israeli security chiefs.
To that claim, the prime minister’s office responded with a brief statement denouncing “a complete lie.” The official lost a libel suit brought against him by the Netanyahus’ lawyer.
And when the prime minister appointed David Zini as the new head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service in May, Israeli journalists once again pointed to the possible influence of Sara Netanyahu, who is thought to be close to Zini’s entourage.
Almost two years since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Sara Netanyahu seems to have established herself as more indispensable than ever, with some even attributing her with increasing influence on strategic issues.
In May, when Sara Netanyahu corrected the number of living Gaza hostages given by her husband during a recorded meeting with the captives’ families, speculation swirled that she had access to classified information.
Journalist and Netanyahu biographer Ben Caspit went as far as to describe Sara Netanyahu as the “real prime minister.”
“It has become public knowledge. It is an integral part of our lives... we are normalizing the fact that someone has dismantled the leadership of the state in favor of chaotic, family-based management,” Caspit said in an opinion piece published on the website of the Maariv newspaper.
In an interview with US news outlet Fox News on Wednesday, Netanyahu described his wife as a “wonderful partner” and praised her help over the years.


KSrelief extends fire aid to 600 families in Syrian villages, distributes winter kits in Pakistan

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center delivers critical assistance to fire-affected communities in Syria.(KSRelief)
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center delivers critical assistance to fire-affected communities in Syria.(KSRelief)
Updated 10 July 2025

KSrelief extends fire aid to 600 families in Syrian villages, distributes winter kits in Pakistan

The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center delivers critical assistance to fire-affected communities in Syria.(KSRelief)
  • Relief workers distributed emergency supplies to 600 families impacted by fires across rural Latakia province in Syria, reaching 13 villages

DAMASCUS: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has expanded its emergency response operations, delivering critical assistance to fire-affected communities in Syria while simultaneously addressing winter shelter needs for displaced populations in Pakistan.
Relief workers distributed emergency supplies to 600 families impacted by fires across rural Latakia province in Syria, reaching 13 villages: Al-Midan, Aysha Banar, Shaqraa, Beit Fares, Beit Awan, Al-Husainiya, Al-Ramadiya, Al-Rawda, Qastal Maaf, Al-Tamima, Beit Sheikh Wali, Beit Al-Wadi and Beit Hussein.
In parallel operations, the center provided 2,012 emergency shelter kits to vulnerable populations across Kashmir region in Pakistan, reaching 14,921 people through its 2025 shelter materials and winter supplies distribution program.
The operations form part of Ƶ’s broader humanitarian framework, delivered through the center’s established networks, to support affected communities globally.


Libya’s unity government, Turkiye strengthen military cooperation with agreement in Ankara

Libya’s unity government, Turkiye strengthen military cooperation with agreement in Ankara
Updated 10 July 2025

Libya’s unity government, Turkiye strengthen military cooperation with agreement in Ankara

Libya’s unity government, Turkiye strengthen military cooperation with agreement in Ankara
  • Deal outlines cooperation in military fields to enhance Libyan army’s readiness, professionalism
  • Libya’s undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense met Yasar Guler, Turkey’s minister of national defense

LONDON: Libya and Turkiye signed an agreement on Thursday to enhance the Libyan army’s military capabilities through advanced training and logistical support.

The National Unity Government based in Tripoli said that Abdulsalam Al-Zoubi, undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense, visited Ankara to work on strengthening military cooperation between Libya and Turkiye. During his visit, he met Yasar Guler, the Turkish minister of national defense, as well as the undersecretary of the ministry of defense.

The agreement outlines cooperation in military fields to enhance the Libyan army’s readiness and professionalism. Al-Zoubi said that the cooperation is part of Tripoli’s plan to develop the Libyan army, praising the strategic relationship with Ankara. He said cooperation with Turkiye is a key priority for the Ministry of Defense’s institutional development program.

Turkiye has reaffirmed its commitment to support Tripoli’s defense capabilities, highlighting its strategic partnership, the statement added.